According to a new survey conducted by m1nd-set regarding the impact of e-commerce and mobile technology in duty free and travel retail, 30% of international travellers would use a duty free shopping application for all airports.

 

However, only 13% of travellers said they would consider using a bespoke app either for their main airport or one that they were travelling to.

 

In terms of online shopping behaviour – at home or when travelling – the Chinese appear to be the most engaged, with 93% shopping frequently or very frequently online. This was much higher than the global average, which was 74%. Travellers from the Middle East & Africa are least likely to shop frequently online.

 

The survey conducted for the TFWA, which included online interviews with over 4,000 international travellers from across the globe, also revealed that the most popular products purchased online belong to the electronics category. A surprising 63% of those surveyed purchase electronic products online.

 

Click to enlarge all graphs.

 

This was followed by the fashion category (55%), books/newspapers/magazines (47%), accessories & jewellery (37%). After these categories came skincare and fragrances tied (34%), makeup (26%), chocolate & confectionery (22%), fine food (18%), alcohol (15%), tobacco (4%) and other (17%).

 

Sixty two percent of respondents said that better prices was a key advantage to shopping online (top of the list of advantages) and 61% said they shopped online for convenience or a ‘quick purchase’.

 

Interestingly, 49% said that a key barrier to purchase was not being able to try the product on. Forty four percent of respondents simply said that they preferred shopping in store.

 

 

GETTING INFO ON DF&TR BRANDS

Perhaps unsurprisingly 89% of respondents use the Internet to check or send emails/messages and access social media networks at the airport. However, perhaps encouragingly 31% of travellers use the Internet to search for information regarding the brand/products in the airport shops.

 

Forty percent of respondents said their preferred way of gathering information on DF&TR brands was through the duty free shop’s website, however, nearly 20% of travellers did not know that this was even possible.

 

 

A surprising 41% of Chinese travellers said they were not aware that they could search for information on DF brands online.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE

Moving on to the influence of social media on purchases, again the result from the Chinese passengers was the most extreme with 74% of travellers saying that social media posts by friends influence their purchases.

 

Almost 10% less Chinese travellers said that social media posts by brands and retailers (66%) had this same influence on their purchases.

 

Based on the survey results, m1nd-set says that online can truly generate awareness and revenue in travel retail, but only if there is a seamless transition between the digital and physical brand experience throughout the traveller’s journey.

 

 

M1nd-set also suggested that cross-channel uniformity – including visual identity, generation perceptions, communication of positioning and enhancement of customer experience – is a must.

 

The analysts at the company also say that the industry needs to develop special approaches for key segments such as Chinese and Millennials, as they have an entirely different mind-set.

 

 

“Differentiate from domestic channels by relating to travel, destination, region, event, exclusives, unique occasion,” adds m1nd-set.

 

“The most important need of the traveller is convenience. Assure easy way for travellers to access, inform, compare and buy 24/7.”

 

For more information see www.tfwa.com or www.m1nd-set.com.